Baseball Preview: North Central Knights vs. East Clarendon Wolverines
The North Central Knights will head out on the road to challenge the East Clarendon Wolverines at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Each of these teams will be fighting to keep a win streak alive as North Central comes in on three and East Clarendon on six.
North Central can now show off six landslide victories after their most recent match on Tuesday. They were the clear victor by an 11-1 margin over Chesterfield.
Dylan Smith made a splash while hitting and pitching. He struck out six batters over three innings while giving up no earned run off three hits (and only one walk). Smith has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in seven consecutive pitching appearances. Smith was also stellar in the batter's box, going 1-for-4 with a home run, three RBI, and two runs.
In other batting news, Ashton Brazell and Patton Hood did most of the damage at the plate: Brazell got on base in all four of his plate appearances with a triple, a stolen base, and two RBI, while Hood scored three runs and stole a base while going 3-for-4. Hood is on a roll when it comes to stolen bases, as he's now stolen at least one in the last three games he's played. Colt Babic was another key contributor, scoring two runs while getting on base in three of his four plate appearances.
Meanwhile, East Clarendon gave up the first runs last Monday, but they didn't let that get them down. They came out on top against Socastee by a score of 9-4.
Foster Matthews spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered just two earned (and two unearned) runs on five hits.
At the plate, Whit Nesbitt and Graham Newsome did most of the damage at the plate: Nesbitt scored two runs and stole two bases while going 2-for-4, while Newsome scored a run while going 2-for-3. Another player making a difference was Michael Morris, who scored a run while going 3-for-4.
North Central's record is now 11-9. As for East Clarendon, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won eight of their last nine contests, which provided a nice bump to their 15-5 record this season.
The pitchers for both teams better look sharp on Wednesday as neither team is afraid to steal. North Central has been swiping bases left and right this season, having averaged 2.7 stolen bases per game. However, it's not like East Clarendon struggles in that department as they've been averaging 3.4. The only question left is which team can snag more.
North Central came up short against East Clarendon when the teams last played back in March, falling 10-5. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Matthews, who tossed five innings while giving up just one earned (and three unearned) runs off four hits. Now that North Central knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? Check MaxPreps.com after the match to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
